That dollar amount results from an -8.7% reduction from $4.3 billion 5 years earlier during 2020.
Year over year, the overall value of Botswanan exports decelerated by -32.4% compared to $5.8 billion starting from 2023.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2024, the Botswana pula reduced by -15.6% against the US dollar since 2020 and declined up by -1.5% from 2023 to 2024. Botswana’s weaker local currency makes its exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers starting from American currency.
Botswana’s 3 most valuable exported products are unmounted and unset diamonds, copper ores and concentrates, then insulated wire or cable. Collectively, those top exported products represent 86.5% of the total sales for Botswanan exports during 2024. Such a high percentage indicates an intensely concentrated portfolio of international trade commodities.
Botswana’s Major Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that 96.1% of products exported from Botswana was bought by importers in: United Arab Emirates (26.9% of the Botswanan total), South Africa (15.3%), India (13.5%), Belgium (10.6%), Australia (9.1%), mainland China (8.7%), Israel (3.4%), Namibia (3.3%), Zimbabwe (2.3%), United States of America (1.03%), Anguilla (1.02%) and Hong Kong (0.8%).
From a continental perspective, 55.1% of Botswana’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 22.4% was sold to importers in fellow African nations. Botswana shipped another 11.4% worth of goods to buyers in Europe.
Smaller percentages went to customers in Oceania (9.1%) mostly Australia, North America (1.04%) then Latin America (1.02%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
Given Botswana’s population of 2.72 million people, its total $3.92 billion in 2024 exports translates to about $1,450 for every resident in the southern African country. That dollar metric lags the average $2,100 per capita one year earlier during 2023.
Botswana’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Batswana global shipments during 2024. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Botswana.
- Gems, precious metals: US$2.5 billion (63.9% of total exports)
- Ores, slag, ash: $738.4 million (18.8%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $173.9 million (4.4%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $74.1 million (1.9%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $46.2 million (1.2%)
- Live animals: $38.9 million (1%)
- Machinery including computers: $38.7 million (1%)
- Meat: $36.5 million (0.9%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $33.3 million (0.8%)
- Vehicles : $27.6 million (0.7%)
Botswana’s top 10 exports accounted for 94.7% of the overall value of the African nation’s global shipments.
Meat was the fastest grower among Botswana’s top 10 export categories, up by 49.6% from 2023 to 2024.
In second place for improving export sales was ores, slag and ash via a 41.8% advance, led by copper ores and concentrates.
Botswana’s shipments of plastics, both as materials and items made with plastic, posted the third-fastest gain in value up by 32.5%.
The leading decliner among Botswana’s top 10 export categories was gems and precious metals, thanks to a -45.7% year-over-year drop. That product category was negatively impacted by lower revenues from exported diamonds.
At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, unmounted and unset diamonds represent Botswana’s most valuable exported product at 63.9% of the country’s total. In second place was copper ores and concentrates (18.8%) trailed by insulated wire or cable (3.8%), carbonates and percarbonates (1.9%), live bovine cattle (1%), frozen beef (0.9%), coal including solid fuels made from coal (0.8%), plastic tubes, pipes and fittings (0.7%), salts and pure sodium chloride (0.6%), then linens (0.3%).
Products Driving Botswana’s Best Trade Surpluses
The following types of Botswanan product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Gems, precious metals: US$1.2 billion (Down by -66.9% since 2023)
- Ores, slag, ash: $737.6 million (Up by 41.9%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $60.8 million (Up by 40.2%)
- Live animals: $31.8 million (Down by -26.9%)
- Meat: $21.7 million (Up by 40.8%)
- Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $2.1 million (Up by 54.3%)
- Tin: $5,000 (Reversing an -$11,000 deficit)
Botswana has highly positive net exports in the international trade of diamonds and, to a lesser extent, gold. In turn, these cashflows indicate Botswana’s strong competitive advantages under the gems and precious metals category.
Products Causing Botswana’s Worst Trade Deficits
Botswana generated an overall -US$3.2 billion trade deficit for 2024, soaring by 316.4% from -$767.3 million in red ink one year earlier in 2023.
Below are exports from Botswana that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Botswana’s goods trail Batswana imports.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$1.2 billion (Down by -7.7% since 2023)
- Machinery including computers: -$582.7 million (Up by 13.9%)
- Vehicles: -$490.4 million (Up by 11.5%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$246.2 million (Up by 45.2%)
- Cereals: -$204 million (Up by 29.5%)
- Beverages, spirits, vinegar: -$178.2 million (Down by -37%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$163.8 million (Up by 28.3%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$130.4 million (Up by 0.9%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$118.4 million (Down by -4.1%)
- Perfumes, cosmetics: -$97 million (Up by 21.6%)
Botswana has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the mineral fuels including oil category, particularly for refined petroleum oils.
Examples of Botswana’s Export Companies
No Batswana corporations rank among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia lists exports-related companies from Botswana. Selected examples are shown below:
- Botswana Meat Commission (food)
- Botswana Railways (industrial transportation)
- Botswana Telecommunications Corp. (telecommunications)
- Debswana (diamonds, coal)
- MASCOM (mobile phones)
In macroeconomic terms, Botswana’s total exported goods represent 7.6% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2024 ($51.8 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 7.6% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2024 compares to 10.7% for 2023. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Botswana’s total economic performance, albeit based on a relatively short timeframe.
Another key indicator of an economy’s health is the unemployment rate. Botswana’s unemployment rate averaged 23.1% for 2024, down from an average 23.4% jobless rate for 2023 according to Trading Economics metrics.
Botswana’s capital city is Gaborone, nicknamed “Gabs” and named after Chief Gaborone of the native Tlôkwa tribe.
See also Diamond Exports by Country, Belgium’s Top 10 Exports and Diamond Imports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles. Accessed on September 20, 2025
EXCHANGE-RATES.org, Currency exchange rate: Botswana Pula to US Dollar. Accessed on September 20, 2025
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on September 20, 2025
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on September 20, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on September 20, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on September 20, 2025
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on September 20, 2025
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Botswana. Accessed on September 20, 2025
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on September 20, 2025